Swami Lalitananda planned to hit the gym this past March 28. But then she decided on an early-morning stroll along Hallandale Beach.

She crossed A1A and watched the 15 mile-per-hour winds whip whitecaps offshore. A few minutes later, shortly after 8 a.m., the blue-eyed, 64-year-old retired teacher spotted dozens of people plunging into the surf from a tiny wooden boat with a shredded sail and tipping mast. They slapped at waves and scrambled to shore.

She stopped dead. From the line of luxury high-rises to her left, residents used binoculars to spy the scene unfolding below them.

A few feet from Lalitananda, two policewomen waded into the water to fish out the motionless body of a gaunt black man. He wore blue plaid boxer shorts and a ripped mesh basketball jersey. The rescue workers laid him on his back with his feet pointing toward the ocean.

Nine-year sentence for arsonist

The arsonist who sipped on Grand Marnier while several hundred people were forced out of their homes by a Christmas Eve fire on the Danforth will have at least nine years behind bars to think about his "despicable crime."

It took 171 firefighters over two days to put out the lumberyard blaze, shutting down the busy east-end intersection while forcing more than 50 families out of their homes on one of the coldest nights of the year, said Epstein, as Roks' parents and his wife looked on glumly from the public gallery.

Massage parlor on Fair Oaks Boulevard raided

Sacramento County Sheriff Deputies have shut down a massage parlor on Fair Oaks Boulevard that was allegedly serving as a front for prostitution, investigators said Friday.

Dallas Costumed As The Dark Knight

PORTLAND, November 7, 2007 -First there was Adam West. Then, there was a string that started with Michael Keaton and has continued with Christian Bale. On Sunday, November 11, one more man will dress as the Caped Crusader: Jax goalie and Community Relations Director Dallas Eliuk. Eliuk will be a featured celebrity at the Portland Comic Book Show, held at the Memorial Coliseum. Eliuk will be in full Batman costume, utility belt and all.

The future hall of famer will be on hand from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. to greet fans, pose for photos, sign autographs and maybe even chat with Commissioner Gordon. Eliuk's fianc�e, 105.1 the Buzz's Daria will dress as one of Batman's enemies, Catwoman. The two comic book fans will stand side-by-side as they greet all their fans and hand out a limited number of the popular Jax comic book that debuted last season.

O'Malley plan to tax corporations runs into Senate skeptics

Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to make corporations in Maryland unable to avoid taxes by moving profits to out-of-state subsidiaries ran into skeptical lawmakers Saturday in a Senate committee.

The O'Malley administration also was asked to come up with other services to fall under an expansion of the sales tax. That's because it looked like the governor would have trouble extending the sales tax to some of the services he has proposed, including real estate management, tanning, massage, sauna and physical fitness services.

"I think there's a general sense it's going to be difficult to get most of what the governor had in his package passed," said Sen. Ulysses Currie, chairman of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee. "Once these things get out there, you know, and the lobbyists come in, it makes it very difficult."

The committee held a hearing Saturday to consider O'Malley's proposals to attack a $1.7 billion budget deficit.